What are the historical origins of the Lodge of Antiquity?

The Lodge of Antiquity No. 2 originated prior to the establishment of the first Grand Lodge, operating by immemorial constitution without a warrant from any higher body 1. It stands as the oldest lodge in England 1.

In February 1717, while meeting at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern in Saint Paul's Churchyard, London, it joined three other lodges assembled at the Apple-Tree Tavern to concur in forming the Grand Lodge of England 1. On June 24, 1717, the four lodges met again at the Goose and Gridiron to elect Anthony Sayer as Grand Master 1.

The lodge's early history is preserved in artifacts such as the Antiquity Manuscript, a parchment roll written in 1686 by Robert Padgett, clerk to the Worshipful Society of the Freemasons of the city of London 1. The document bears the arms of both the City of London and the Masons Company 1. The scholarly account of its early records was later compiled by Rylands and Firebrace 1.

Because the lodge predated the Grand Lodge, its status as an immemorial body became a central issue during a late eighteenth-century dispute over public processions in regalia and lodge discipline 2. Asserting its ancient authority against the Grand Lodge, the lodge withdrew for ten years and allied with the Grand Lodge of All England at York before the schism was resolved 2.